


The Decisive Battle of the Giant Magic Dragon

by Calesvol



Series: Naruto Events [7]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Action & Romance, Alternate Universe - Mythology, F/M, Family Feels, Japanese Mythology & Folklore, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:47:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25709953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Calesvol/pseuds/Calesvol
Summary: Based on the folklore of Jiraiya the Gallant, Tsunade--an acclaimed kunoichi and wielder of slug magic--teams up with Sakumo Hatake of the legendary Hatake clan. In the Kingdom of Oumi ruled by Jiraiya Ogata, her former classmate, she hears tale of how Orochimaru has corrupted a lord of the Yuki clan and put him as a pretender to the throne. With the kingdom in dire straits, only Tsunade and Sakumo have any hope of combating this wicked foe.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi & Hatake Sakumo, Hatake Sakumo/Tsunade (Naruto), Shizune & Tsunade (Naruto)
Series: Naruto Events [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2185356





	1. Chapter 1

Warning(s): G, none

* * *

The Kingdom of Oumi, as it was called, had fallen upon hard times. Tsunade could tell as she rode through on her highly-strung young mare and the horse skittishly shied away from these disease-addled peasants, poor peoples who were forbidden from leaving the kingdom’s borders or beseeching the outside for help. The blonde was certain it might have worked, but as a powerful kunoichi of slug magic, it was a fruitless endeavor to try and keep her from those in need.

“Tsunade-sama, what happened here?” Shizune, her young apprentice, queried from behind as she clutched the Senju’s waist a little tighter out of worry. “These people… they really need our help, don’t they?”

Tsunade peered from beneath the wide brim of her reed jingasa, over her shoulder at the young girl barely ten summers in age. “These lands are the seat of the Ogata clan, Shizune-chan. Do you remember my classmate, Jiraiya? He has been lord here for many years, until that bastard, Daijo Yuki, came along. He’s trapped, and I have to free him.” She reined her steed into an inn’s inner courtyard, attendants and stable hands instantly summoned to take her horse after Tsunade had helped the small girl dismount.

“The Yuki clan? What are they doing so far south from the Land of Frost?” Shizune asked again, arms folded and nearly clinging to Tsunade’s side. Not that she genuinely blamed the girl. Niece of her deceased lover or not, while Shizune was normally quite brave, it was difficult to be when Orochimaru would inevitably be near.

“You shouldn’t speak of such things so boldly, my lady.” Sharply did she wheel to see a man address her, spiky silver hair like spun metal in the firelight of paper lanterns and sconces of the courtyard.

Tsunade’s eyes narrowed slightly. Handsome or no, she couldn’t help but be suspicious. “Do you not like it when people speak the way I do?” she challenged, her unwavering stare held fiercely despite how little contention she sensed from the man.

The man pushed off from the column he’d leaned against, his stride easy and unguarded as he addressed the blonde quietly. “Not here. My name is Sakumo Hatake. I know of a better place we can speak.” Mystified but intrigued, she exchanged a look with Shizune who looked concerned, but ultimately trusted her mistress’ judgment.

Sakumo led them through a brief maze of corridors and alleyways, stopping within a small courtyard garden as he trekked on the wooden veranda that encompassed it. A shōji screen door was slid open, but not before a small frame all but launched at Tsunade. Though the woman was instantly poised to fight, Shizune met the force of the boy’s kunai with her deceptively strong senbon, the clangor of metal resonant as the adults gaped for a moment.

“Kakashi-kun, you know this isn’t necessary…” Sakumo huffed with a wan smile at the boy, the child’s face partially covered while his glare was unrelenting on Shizune.

“How do you know you can trust them?” Kakashi barked back, Shizune’s teeth grit through their attrition. Due to their resemblance, Tsunade knew at once that this had to be Sakumo’s son.

“Because, I invited them here. Now, why don’t we get inside and I’ll make us all some tea, hm?” Sakumo hummed encouragingly and patted the boy on the head who whipped away from their contention with a growl. He bounded back into their room and Sakumo chuckled at his expense.

“I take it he’s your son, Hatake-san?” Tsunade repeated her initial suspicions with a soft smile. “They’re so rambunctious at that age, aren’t they?”

“Mm, they really are. Ah, I don’t think I got your name, miss…?”

“Tsunade,” the kunoichi answered with an admittedly shy smile, “Tsunade of the Senju clan of the forest. I’m not from around here, you see.”

“Senju, of Sennan? That is quite far from here. Nonetheless, it’s good that you’re here. Let’s get inside.” Tsunade didn’t need another word of encouragement as she passed over the threshold, removing her geta while Shizune did the same. The girl still seemed perturbed from before, warily eyeing the interior while Sakumo beckoned them to a low table with cushions for them to sit at while he prepared tea.

“Shizune-chan, don’t look so glum. Hatake-san will think you’re being rude,” Tsunade murmured as she leaned over Shizune’s side that earned her a petulant folding of her arms.

“Tsunade-sama, he started it!” Shizune hissed back, to which Tsunade sighed. “Besides, if you weren’t focusing on his father so much, maybe you could make him apologize.”

A blush sprung to Tsunade’s cheeks at that accusation. _Was it really so obvious?_ Just as Tsunade was about to lodge a defense in regard to that observation, Sakumo emerged a moment later with a crooked smile and wooden tray with a small tea kettle, cups, and mochi on a porcelain dish. Shizune raised an unimpressed brow at how Tsunade suddenly fell silent, only confirming her accusation.

“Thank you, Hatake-san. I’m sorry for earlier, but Shizune-chan means well,” Tsunade began with apologetic tone that Sakumo listened sincerely to as he set up four place settings for each of them. “She’s very protective as my ward.”

“Ah, don’t worry about it at all, Senju-san. They’re all like that at this age, especially in times like these,” Sakumo said wistfully at he took his place next to Tsunade, the slug mage admittedly flustered from their close proximity. She could only pray to the gods that it wasn’t obvious! “After his mother died, mm… It’s been difficult for him. But, we make due with what we can.”

_Hang on…_ _the boy’s_ _mother died?_ Tsunade couldn’t help but feel a wave of shame at how shameless she’d been before knowing their circumstances. Except, it was similar, wasn’t it? Her mind couldn’t help but stray to Dan Katō, the man who had been her first true love. Even to that day, she still found herself missing his kind smile and the way he loved her for her. The hole in her heart shaped like him still sung with a hollow, yearning wind.

“…I understand. Shizune-chan isn’t related to me by blood. She’s the niece and last surviving member of the Katō family. …Her uncle was my lover, for a time,” Tsunade confided before she circled an arm around Shizune and tenderly brought the girl to her side, a maternal protectiveness that dissolved her consternation over Kakashi.

Sakumo’s lips pursed, but he looked on sympathetically. “I’m sorry for your loss, Tsunade-san,” he consoled with genuine compassion. So much so that it made Tsunade’s heart twist in knots, the way he looked at them both. “It’s why I fight against tyranny like Lord Yuki. He needs to be stopped before he tears this land apart with his corruption.”

Tsunade couldn’t help but reach to Sakumo’s side and gently cover his hand with her own, a gesture of goodwill that captured the man’s gaze to her own. He looked sad, but grateful.

“I do much of the same, Sakumo-san. But, Lord Yuki is powerful. I don’t know if I can face him alone. Especially when it’s possible that Orochimaru might be behind the scenes manipulating him.”

“Orochimaru?” Sakumo echoed in surprise. “I thought Lord Ogata put him down. But, if he hasn’t…”

“Yes. He’ll need to be defeated alongside Lord Yuki.”

Suddenly, an explosion rocked the very air, their earthenware cups jumping and spilling their tea across the table’s surface. Muffled cries of alarm rose in a crescendo from the streets, and the moment it rocked a tremor beneath the floors did Kakashi all but rocket from his room he’d been sulking in, eyes fierce as he was already clad in armor.

“Father, we have to go! He’s on the move!”

Sakumo and Tsunade’s hands retracted instantly, upright and poised. Tsunade and Shizune were already battle ready, the Hatake moving through the room and affixing armor pieces and weapons as swiftly as he could to his person. “Kakashi, take Shizune and ascend to the rooftops. I need you to scout for anything we can’t see.” He turned to Tsunade with a determined look. “Tsunade-san, please come with me.”

Without another word, Tsunade met Sakumo with conviction and both leapt into the fray, to whatever chaos awaited them outside.


	2. Chapter 2

Warning(s): G, none

* * *

When they left the quiet confines of Sakumo’s lodgings, it were as though they’d walked into the mouth of another world. Chaos roiled rampantly throughout the castle town, a snow storm during such unseasonable times that smote the thatched roofs and wooden domiciles like the fist of a god. Tsunade squinted against the violent squalls of snow that blanketed the world, the blizzard so powerful that she could barely see more than a meter or two before her. Shizune and Kakashi had been swallowed by the storm, but she had a feeling that they’d enough sense not to leap into the worst of the fray.

“Be careful, Tsunade-san,” Sakumo warned as he came along side her; the blonde whipped as he placed a gentle arm on her shoulder, comforted by the notion even though she wasn’t that easily shaken. The Hatake had since unsheathed his tantō blade, something unique about it that differentiated it from others.

“I’m one of the legendary Sannin, Hatake-san,” Tsunade said with a cocky smile, “so maybe I should be the one protecting you.”

“Hm, I think I’d like that.”

As fun as it was in a moment of interlude, both shinobi immediately ceased their flirtatious rapport the second a loud, cutting hiss clove through the howl of the wind. With his ponytail and her pigtails billowing in the unrelenting wind, it might not have been heard at all. Yet, in this whitewashed world where the breath of humanity fell silent, twin orbs of gold shone like smoldering coals in the bleak chill.

Just as they’d honed on the botholithic serpent, Shizune dove from the rear and triggered her senbon launcher, the projectiles careening towards those spectral eyes until they connected. The girl pumped her fist once while Kakashi gave her an annoyed stare as the serpent caterwauled in pain.

“Tsunade-sama! Are you alright? Kakashi and I are still helping people, but we saw you…” Shizune babbled, Sakumo glancing down with a kind smile from Tsunade’s side while Kakashi looked as endlessly irritated as ever.

Without hesitance did the boy utilize a summoning spell to manifest a small chestnut dog that bore a surprisingly human expression of weariness he called Pakkun, Tsunade a little amused. She hadn’t seen ninken like this one in quite some time.

“Katō!” Kakashi barked, the older girl glancing at him quizzically. “Come with me. But, it’s not my fault if you end up getting lost. We need to help protect as many people as we can.”

“Right!” The pair watched as both youths disappeared into the fray, leaving the enormous serpent to them.

“Alright, Sakumo-san, I’m not sure how long we have, but please listen closely: my strengths are close-quarters combat with superhuman strength and healing spells. I can evade, true, but we’ll have a real ace in the hole if you can do long-range, especially fire and lightning spells.”

Sakumo griped his tantō with renewed determination. “Ah, we must be fortunate, then, because you guessed my specialties easily. If there anything else we need, Tsunade-san?”

She smirked at the man. “Don’t stand on solid ground around me when I’m fighting and you should be fine.”

With a fierce howl of wind and squalling blizzard, Tsunade did nothing to hesitate as she launched towards the foe, gathering chakra in her extremities. The first hit to connect buffeted the serpent that roared indignantly, its massive snout that easily dwarfed her in size recoiling from the impact of her blow. The blonde back-flipped and landed adroitly on her feet on the eave of a nearby roof, far from its brutal presence. Though, she hissed in the wake of her first attack, inspecting her hand to find it afflicted with burns from the frosty temperatures she’d come into contact with.

“Dammit, I really can’t just take this thing down the way I want, can I?” she murmured to herself, all before the icy serpent lashed with blistering speed towards her. An explosion of splinters and wood like projected needles dispelled into the air, the Senju hissing as some strafed her body and clipped through her thick hakama and some of the bamboo armor she wore.

As she took a moment to recover, the acclaimed White Fang of Konoha mounted his offensive as he gracefully manipulated the snow to condense it into wicked fangs of ice with an elemental spell that erected them in a devastating field.

“Tsunade-san,” Sakumo called over the wailing storm, “can you use your strength to impale that thing on this ice? I’m not strong enough, unfortunately.”

The blonde leapt to his side, assessing the offensive he just composed. “I think I can, but I can’t do it without protections. I’m adept at slug magic, but I don’t think regeneration can protect against this snake’s frost and snow.”

“Ah, I have an idea.” Without another word did Sakumo carefully take the Sannin’s hand, the woman glancing down when she felt a jolt of electricity race down her spine. As they exchanged a quizzical glance, they drew their hands slowly away to reveal a mirrored pinwheel symbol on the palms of their hands.

“…A soulmate tattoo? I didn’t think…” Tsunade began falteringly, but a reprised cry of indignation from the serpent cut through whatever either had to say. “Lend me some of your elemental power, Sakumo-san! Maybe it can guard me against this thing.”

Though the look in the Hatake’s eyes wished to say more, he didn’t question with a single word before touching the cusps of their hands together, the Senju inhaling deeply as his power channeled into her.

“Please, be safe, Tsunade.”

Her name. Just her name, without the embellishment of her title or surname or some honorary suffix that erected a wall between them. Just Tsunade and Sakumo and how right their names sounded together.

“Don’t worry, I will. But, you too!”

Feeling elemental power of the like she hadn’t felt before, the serpent squirmed through the labyrinth of icy pales that menaced near with an uncertain hiss, but not before Tsunade disappeared into the harsh vale of snow before descending from aloft on a howl of wind, roaring a battle cry louder than the heart of a blizzard as her heel collided into its nape. The serpent shrieked an inhuman, pitched note that clove through the snowy din. Its massive form pierced through the icy river of fangs Sakumo had erected, gutting its belly of snow and ice it was so similarly made.

While the Senju rejoined her ally’s side, as the beast’s form dissolved into snowflakes did a man collapse to the ground. As a medic did Tsunade’s instincts kick in, honing on the man that appeared to be none other than Daijo Yuki himself.

“He’s dead,” Tsunade pronounced a moment later with Sakumo at her side, jaw set as it wasn’t even the shocking part.

The man’s face revealed to be white as snow, eye sockets hollow and empty like the thing housed within had vacated on the threshold of death. Only one person could have used a man's body like a meat puppet.

“That Orochimaru!” Tsunade snarled as she slammed her fist into the ground. Sakumo placed a hand on Tsunade’s shoulder, smiling gently. That alone acted like a panacea to her troubles, a deep sigh escaping. “I couldn’t save him, Sakumo. What kind of healer can’t save the people they intend to?”

“Are you so sure about that?” Sakumo smiled gently, and indicated towards the castle with a nod. “Your comrade should be awakening soon, and the snow is already beginning to dissolve away.”

Tsunade followed his gaze into the evaporating columns of snow and ice, crystalline fractals forming a rainbow in the sky above the castle town. She couldn’t help but smile.

“You’re right, Sakumo, but… I don’t think I want to go alone this time. Will you go with me?”

Sakumo followed her gaze, fingers curling around the svelte digits of her hand.

“I’d be honored to, Tsunade.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This was for Tsunade Appreciation Week Day 4: Soulmates and Tattoos.

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: For anyone wondering, this story is based on the old Japanese film, _The Magic Serpent_ , of the same name with some obvious liberties taken. It's for today's prompt, Mythology, that will be continued with tomorrow's prompts.


End file.
